Wednesday, 11 October 2006

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Mel Gibson: I need to heal myself

Star claims anti-Semitic remarks were stupid ramblings of a drunkard

Speaking at length for the first time about his drunk-driving arrest and anti-Semitic comments this summer, Mel Gibson characterizes those remarks as the "stupid rambling of a drunkard."

"The last thing I want to be is that kind of monster," Gibson tells Diane Sawyer in a two-part interview for ABC's Good Morning America, set to air Thursday and Friday mornings.

Gibson also tells Sawyer he is committed to make amends, according to excerpts of the interview on the show's web site. "What I need to do (is) to heal myself and to be assuring and allay the fears of others and to heal them if they had any heart wounds from something I may have said," Gibson says.

Gibson was pulled over shortly after 2 a.m. on July 28 on the Pacific Coast Highway for speeding. He reportedly made anti-Semitic comments during his arrest, for which he later apologized, calling the remarks "despicable."

In August, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of driving with an elevated blood-alcohol level and was sentenced to three years probation.